Reading Notes : The Zero Option by David Rollins

The sixth thriller by David Rollins and the second without the "A". For those who were looking out for the next Vin Cooper book, this is not it, it's a stand alone novel but don't be alarmed because it's a powerful thriller indeed.

The story switches between 1983 and 2012 as we get a story of action and consequence that plays out after 30 years of lies and deception.

There is a terrible plan born in the Cold War days, hatched by NSA agent Roy Garret in which a commercial jet filled with innocent people would be "accidentally" flown into Soviet air space. The Soviets, if they were true to their threats would shoot the plane out of the sky, thus revealing themselves to the rest of the world as the true evil who must be stopped by the US. The plan is put in place in a bid to improve President Reagan's flagging popularity.

Something this large requires a lot of things to go right for the truth to remain a secret and inevitably there is a leak of information that is allowed to get by all of the work done by the NSA heavies. That leak comes in the form of an old American Air Force pilot Curtis Foxx and a Japanese radar operator Yuudai Suzuki. However it is only after their deaths in 2012 that they set in motion a series of events that threaten to uncover the terrible truth.

It comes down to Ben Harbor and Akiko Sato, two youngsters who don't really understand what they're getting themselves into leading a chase through some of the most inhospitable territory. Their pursuers? Well they will want them dead to keep a 30 year old secret.

The Zero Option by David Rollins is an action packed thriller that is your classic tale of the innocent small guy being chased by a formidible big-guy bully. There should only be one winner. And at this point I'm not sure exactly who that winner will be because I've still got another 100 pages to go and I'm riveted.